Three and Out: ‘Kingdom Hearts 2’

Courtesy of Sony Playstation and Disney

Kingdom Hearts II is a fusion of components smashed together to make something charming, intuitive and comprehensive. At various times, I found myself flying through the air on an anti-gravity motorcycle, participating in musicals and roaming the Pride Lands of Lion King with my companion, Goofy the Tortoise. Moments of monotony are few and far between, with something new and exciting to absorb around every corner. Through the use of thematic level design, Kingdom Hearts II dedicates itself to the craft of tying together various subplots with an overarching plot that is all at once convoluted and worth investing in.

The Kingdom Hearts franchise is an ambitious venture – so much in fact that playing the numbered series won’t suffice if you want to have a proper understanding of the narrative – but Kingdom Hearts II did what it could to get me up to speed. A malicious group of big bads, under the name “Organization XIII” (a number that Square Enix seems infatuated with), have kidnapped or hidden Sora’s (our protagonist), good friend Riku. Following the breadcrumbs laid out by the Organization, Sora, Goofy and Donald pave their way through several Disney-themed worlds, like the stunning and true-to-source material in Land of Dragons. Filled with characters and plot that mirror the film Mulan, the game does its best to wind Disney’s charming tales with its own, darker twist. The resulting mini-narratives don’t always land, but it’s infrequent enough that the larger picture is incredibly impressive. Each world can be played as its own entity, whether it be Land of Dragons or Port Royal from Pirates of the Caribbean, but there’s just enough of a drip feed from the encompassing plot that it blends itself just subtly enough. Kingdom Hearts II thrives in the various themes of the worlds it sends Sora and crew to, including the masterful “Timeless River” that turns our protagonists into cartoon-ized, steamboat versions of themselves. The entire world is in black and white, drastically shifting the art style from the more pronounced pallet the rest of the game owns. It not only looks gorgeous, but it’s evident that a lot of passion and effort went into recreating worlds that I grew up with.

Courtesy of Sony Playstation and Disney

On its surface, Kingdom Hearts II doesn’t own an overly complex combat system that would match its winding plot. However, the systems are in place to dig beneath that surface if you’d like. Dozens of varied abilities can be unlocked with AP – a finite pool that allowed me to choose a handful of skills that proved very beneficial against some of the tougher fights in the game. Because I couldn’t choose all of the abilities involved, it forced me to pick a playstyle I felt comfortable with. It left room for alternate playthroughs that might involve me having a more aggressive, strength-based Sora rather than the magic heavy one I ended up with. Kingdom Hearts II relies pretty heavily upon quick-time events (QTE’s), and if they weren’t so damned technically impressive, it may have soured me on the combat a little bit. Instead, every time I found myself in an intense fight, these QTE’s gave me a brief glimpse of just how powerful the characters of the Kingdom Hearts universe are. It’s almost a surprise that Disney allowed heroes like Hercules to look so weak in comparison to our teenage protagonist in Sora. There are moments in the game that call back to Star Wars and the overwhelming power of the Jedi and Sith. Kingdom Hearts II doesn’t compromise its stakes for anything, which is part of what makes it such a powerful force.